东北瑞香 dong bei rui xiang

Daphne japonica Siebold & Zuccarini (1846), not Thunberg (1792).

Shrubs deciduous, 0.15-0.4 m tall. Older stems with leaf scars large and closely spaced; branches short, stout, smooth, irregularly striped, glabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole 3-10 mm; leaf blade lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, (3-)4-10 × 0.8-2 cm, membranous, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate, apex obtuse; veins 8-12 pairs, anastomosing near margins. Inflorescences terminal, mainly on very reduced lateral shoots, fasciculate, 2-10-flowered; peduncle absent; bracts absent. Pedicel very short. Calyx yellowish green; tube 6-8 mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 4, 2.5-5.5 mm. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted at middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat. Disk annular. Drupe red, ovoid, 5-8 mm. Fl. Feb-Apr, fr. Jul-Aug.

Forests; 800-1600 m. Jilin, Liaoning [Japan, Korea].

The identity of Chinese material so named needs confirmation. Japanese material is described as a shrub to 1.5 m tall with glaucous leaves and ellipsoidal fruit ca. 8 mm. Halda (Genus Daphne, 11. 2001) further stated that this species is dioecious.